Volunteering Programs as Non-Formal Education

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Every European Capital of Culture runs on thousands of volunteers — but what if that workforce is also the most underrated classroom in the cultural sector? Drawing on past, present, and future Capitals of Culture, this session reframes volunteering not as free labor but as non-formal education: a structured way to build the skills, networks, and confidence that train the cultural leaders of tomorrow. It asks what volunteers actually take away from the experience, and whether programs are designed to develop people or simply to staff events.

The conversation turns to the harder questions beneath the goodwill. Where is the line between meaningful engagement and unpaid work dressed up as opportunity? How do you sustain a volunteer community after the festival ends and the funding moves on, so that a city keeps the capacity it built? What transfers across very different contexts — from Oulu, Bourges, Tartu, Skopije, Sibiu and Japan — and what has to be reinvented locally? And as cities compete for the Capital of Culture title, can volunteer programs become a real engine of civic identity and long-term cultural capacity, rather than a one-year burst of enthusiasm that fades once the spotlight moves on?

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Anette Elmiina Eksymä  ·  Volunteer Coordinator, Oulu Culture Foundation (FIN)

Faustine Damman  ·  Participation & Civic Engagement Manager, Bourges 2028 (FRA)

Iliyana Atanasova  ·  President & Project Manager, EDU Center NGO (MKD)

Jaan Ulst  ·  Former head of the volunteer programme of Tartu 2024 (EST)  / Cultural and Creative Industries project manager at Goethe-Institut Tallinn 

Mayumi Taniguchi  ·  Director, Volunteer Bridge Project (JPN / ROU)

Violeta Buduleci  ·  Head of FITS Volunteer Program, Sibiu (ROU)

Moderator — Cosmin Chivu  ·  Director of Industry Programme, SIPAM (ROU)

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Event in English , with translation into Romanian
Duration: 30min

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